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Nigeria: Wole Soyinka And Mystery Gunman At Radio Station, By German Journalist

Tunde Akingbade & Flora Onwudiwe

14 September 2008

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The story of the mystery gun man who stormed a radio station in the 60s and got what the then government considered as inciting statement broadcast re-echoed at the presentation of a book on Wole Soyinka written by a foreign journalist

Mr. Gerd Meuer, renowned German journalist, who has worked extensively in 48 African countries, has been a close friend of Professor Wole Soyinka, the 1986 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, for 45 years. They first met in 1962 when Meuer came to University of Ibadan for studies.

Meuer, who claimed he "was socialized" in Yoruba country in the early sixties", worked in German Public Radio and TV Corporation ARD, Swiss, Austrian, French, Irish (radio stations) and the BBC. Last week, the renowned German journalist presented his book titled; Gerd Meuer: Journeys Around and with Kongi Half a Century on the Road with Wole Soyinka, at the Goethe Institute, Lagos.

Wole Soyinka, the central character of the book, was also at the presentation. It was an opportunity for the German to recall some of the events that took place in Nigeria in the 60s and his relationship with Soyinka during an interview with Sunday Vanguard.

Meuer recalled that the Western Region was embroiled in political turmoil in 1963 and this spread till the following years. Then the premier, Chief S.L. Akintola, was billed to address the people of the region. Radio Nigeria based in Ibadan, then the capital of the region, had recorded the broadcast. But before 7.00 p.m. when the recorded broadcast was to be aired, a mystery gunman entered the radio station and demanded that the continuity announcer should hand over the tape of the premier's broadcast. When the announcer complied, the gunman reportedly handed over his own recorded tape and ordered it to be aired. Then people of the Western Region were stunned when they heard the voice of another person and not that of the premier.

"People of Western Region, stand up for your right," said the voice. The mystery gunman left the station and vanished into the dark night. Thoughts of Wole Soyinka rang in some quarters but there was no trace of Wole Soyinka anywhere. The government of Western Region was furious. They combed everywhere for the mystery gunman.

Then they saw Wole Soyinka few days later. Soyinka was said to have just returned from Eastern Nigeria. The government of the region pounced on him and put him behind bars. Meuer was touched about the incarceration of his friend, Soyinka. He then took food and cigarettes to Soyinka at the police station near the Cocoa House where the playwright was detained.

"Oyinbo, what have you come to do here?" asked the policemen on duty when they sighted Meuer. "I have come to see my friend Wole Soyinka," replied Meuer. The policemen were surprised that their detainee would be sought by a white foreigner who had come to express love and solidarity.

Last week, at the Goethe Institute, Meuer narrated his encounter with Soyinka over forty years ago when he took the food and cigarettes to the renowned Nigerian writer who was held for allegedly having some resemblance with the mystery man who entered the radio station and demanded that Akintola's recorded tape be replaced with another tape that contained a voice which lambasted the premier. The German writer had his first son in 1969 about the time Soyinka was incarcerated by the military regime of General Yakubu Gowon and Soyinka later came out to write the popular book, The Man Died.

Meuer did not forget his friend and he named his son Wole. But he had problem with getting a birth certificate for his son because the German authorities noted that the name Wole is not a Christian name. So, the German journalist had to write the name Wole in such a way to make it Christian-like. "Did you ever think that Wole Soyinka will one day win the Nobel Prize as far back as 1969?" Meuer was asked during the interview. "We were sure he would win the Nobel Prize since that time," said the German journalist, adding that the reason they were convinced that Soyinka would one day win the prize was because the Nigerian writer had the power of the spoken word and he is also an orator.

Meuer made some disclosures about Soyinka noting that, "The man can listen to people with open ears and he can talk and explain things to people with a lot of patience." He explained that Soyinka is a very simple man, witty, humorous and can be very sarcastic. "He has a baritone voice that is very powerful and this is an asset," said the German. Going down memory lane on the Nigerian writing scene, the German regretted that it was not vibrant for about 20 years when Nigeria had the so-called "oil doom" which destroyed the moral and academic foundation of the nation after the production of literary classics such as Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

He recalled how the Mbari Club used to meet with other writers such as the renowned poet, Christopher Okigbo and J.P. Clark at Mokola in Ibadan. He was however happy that after the generation of Kole Omotosho, a new crop of writers is emerging in the country. He regretted that Nigerians have moved from a period of literacy in the 1960s to video "crazy" in recent years. Why did Meuer write a book on Soyinka which is his first book at the age of 67?

Meuer retorted: "It takes a long breadth to write a book." According to him, he was actually spurred by many people to write a book because of what they considered as his deep insight into Africa and her people for a greater part of his life. The copies of the book brought for the event at Goethe were sold out. A formal presentation will take place in Germany in October and Soyinka himself is expected to be at the event which will feature book signing tours across the country.

Meuer took the opportunity of the book presentation in Lagos to decry the decadence and perversion in the Nigerian society as opposed to what he used to know when he first came into the country in 1962. While he is not against being religious, he frowned at the idea of businessmen opening churches or religious centres to rip off the people. He believed that Nigerians may have sold their conscience and critical thoughts to religion and that is why things are not moving.

"It's dangerous... this is dangerous. People may go to church and forget that there is need to fight when they are cheated," he said, adding, "I am not against religion and every one is free to do what they want. But Nigerians are absolutely going too far with these huge cathedrals and piety without questioning authorities who have inflicted poverty and misery."

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